Eva Preparation - HP StorageWorks 12000 - Virtual Library System EVA Gateway Manual

If you use LUN mapping and masking to assign specific virtual drives to specific backup media
servers, make sure that the LUN numbering stays in sequence with no gaps. Instead of deleting
tape drives, you can disable them. (You can present them to a new host in the future if required.)
When creating virtual cartridges inside the virtual library, it is good practice to keep the virtual
cartridge size smaller than the physical tape. Generally it is always better to create smaller cartridges
than larger ones because it frees up the cartridge quicker for use by other processes such as restore,
tape copy, or deduplication processing. Cartridge sizes of 100 GB (the default size) are common
and this size can be used regardless of the tape emulation type because the cartridge is virtual (i.e.,
you can create a 100 GB cartridge even if you selected LTO4 drive emulation). If copying to physical
tape via the backup application, the virtual cartridge size does not have any to match the physical
tape in any way (type, size, library type, drive type) because the backup applications all perform
"object copy" where they effectively backup the backup and therefore append and span copy jobs
onto the physical tapes just like they would with backup jobs. If copying to physical tape via
automigration, this will require the virtual cartridges to contain the same amount of data as the physical
tape and so automigration will automatically create the correct size virtual cartridges to match the
physical tapes.

EVA Preparation

Before you connect the VLS12000 Gateway to the external EVA consider these concepts and perform
the related tasks:
• The VLS12000 attachs to a properly functioning EVA running firmware v. 5.0 or higher. Ensure
that your EVA meets these requirements before connecting to a VLS12000.
• Before installing the VLS12000, ensure that the external Fibre Channel switch/fabric has either
two external Fibre Channel switches/fabrics or two zones. This is required so that there are two
data pathways from the VLS to the EVA. Dual pathing provides path balancing and transparent
path failover on the VLS12000.
HP StorageWorks VLS and D2D Solutions Guide 119